Cultural Literature

Comedic superstar and internet entrepreneur Kountry Wayne's unflinchingly honest, often outrageous, but perpetually hopeful and hard-won lessons on the power of always betting on yourself.   Before he was one of Variety's 10 Comics to Watch and a...

Since the earliest days of colonial America, the relationship between cotton and the African-American experience has been central to the history of the republic. America's most serious social tragedy, slavery and its legacy, spread only where cotton...

The roots of a racial reckoning through the lens of cannabis. From the start, the War on Drugs targeted Black, Brown, and Indigenous Americans already disadvantaged by a system stacked against them. Even now, as White Americans who largely escaped the...

In this long-overdue celebration of Black women's resilience and unheralded strength, the revered, trailblazing White House correspondent reflects on The Year That Changed Everything--2020--and African-American women's unprecedented role in upholding...

The remarkable true story of Ellen and William Craft, who escaped slavery through daring, determination, and disguise, with Ellen passing as a wealthy, disabled White man and William posing as "his" slave. In 1848, a year of international democratic...

From a groundbreaking scholar, a heart-wrenching reexamination of the struggle for survival in the Reconstruction-era South, and what it cost. The story of Reconstruction is often told from the perspective of the politicians, generals, and journalists...

This instant New York Times bestseller offers "a firsthand, eye-opening story of a prosecutor that exposes the devastating criminal punishment system" (Ibram X. Kendi, National Book Award-winning author of How to Be an Antiracist) in this "compelling...

The New York Times bestselling author of Writing My Wrongs invites men everywhere on a journey of honesty and healing through this book of moving letters to his sons--one whom he is raising and the other whose childhood took place during Senghor's...

Winner of the Bancroft PrizeWinner of the David J. Langum PrizeWinner of the OAH Liberty Legacy Foundation AwardA New York Times Book Review Editors' Choice "This extraordinary book is a powerful addition to the history of travel segregation...Mia Bay...

The last surviving witness to the lynching of Emmett Till tells his story, with moving recollections of Emmett as a boy, critical insights into the recent investigation, and powerful lessons for racial reckoning, both then and now. In 1955, Emmett Till...

New York Times BestsellerRising Star is the definitive account of Barack Obama's formative years that made him the man who became the forty-fourth president of the United States--from the Pulitzer Prize-winning author of Bearing the CrossBarack Obama's...

Journey with the unsung heroes of the Underground Railroad.Maryland was the starting point of many freedom seekers. They embarked on the perilous journey from slavery to freedom in whatever way they could. John Thompson signed onto a whaling ship. James...